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Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) contribute to resisting the stress conditions of arid ecosystems. Numerous ecological restoration works propose its inoculation, and some of them without conclusive evidence of its need. In this context, the hypotheses of the exploratory study were: a) There are potentially infective propagules in fertility islands (mounds) and areas without vegetation (inter mounds); b) The mycorrhization of specimens planted in the field does not require necessarily inoculation in the nursery, and they are not main determinants of growth. Infective propagules were evaluated in mounds (n = 25) and inter-mounds (n = 25), and their presence was evidenced in both sites, although significantly higher in mounds (p = 0.045). We analyzed the mycorrhizal colonization and height of randomly chosen individuals of A. lampa (n = 15) out of 350 specimens, with 2 years of plantation in an experimental plot. All the specimens presented mycorrhization, although there were differences in height. We conclude that: a) spontaneous mycorrhization of A. lampa occurs in different environmental conditions of a degraded soil; b) the conditions of the substrates would be decisive in the plant growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]